- See also:
- Sour cherries1
Sweet cherries
Sweet cherries are primarily used for eating fresh, straight from the tree.
- Sweet cherries
Amber Heart
The most popular traditional English white cherry, widely known as Kent Bigarreau.- Picking season: Mid
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Black Oliver
Black Oliver is an English mid-season black cherry.- Picking season: Mid
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Celeste
Celeste is a dark red/black cherry, one of the best early-season varieties, with a sweet mild flavour.- Picking season: Early
- Country of origin: Canada
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Hertford
A large dark red English cherry with a good flavour.- Picking season: Late
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Knight's Early Black
A traditional English early-season black cherry- Picking season: Early
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Kordia
Kordia is a popular late-season cherry variety with a good balanced cherry flavour.- Picking season: Late
- Country of origin: Czech Republic
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Lapins
Lapins is a mid-season red cherry from Canada, easy to grow, with heavy crops of good-flavoured cherries.- Picking season: Mid
- Country of origin: Canada
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Merton Glory
A well-known mid-season English white cherry.- Picking season: Early
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Napoleon Bigarreau
A traditional white cherry, with an excellent flavour and appearance.- Picking season: Early
- Country of origin: Germany
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Penny
Penny is a high quality very late-season cherry - it ripens in mid-August.- Picking season: Very late
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Regina
Regina is a new dark-red late-season sweet cherry, with a good flavour and resistance to splitting.- Picking season: Late
- Country of origin: Germany
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Skeena®
One of the best of the Canadian late-season cherries.- Picking season: Late
- Country of origin: Canada
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Stella
If you only want to grow one cherry tree, choose Stella - self-fertile, easy to grow, and a good pollinator.- Picking season: Mid
- Country of origin: Canada
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Summer Sun
Summer Sun is productive mid-season cherry, and should ripen even if the summer weather is less than perfect.- Picking season: Mid
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Sunburst
Sunburst is a large red mid-season cherry with a good mild flavour, and notably easy to pick.- Picking season: Mid
- Country of origin: Canada
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Sweet cherries
Sweetheart
Sweetheart is one of the best-flavoured late-season cherries.- Picking season: Late
- Country of origin: Canada
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
How to choose Sweet cherries
Sweet cherry varieties can be crudely classified into two groups: traditional English, and modern. The traditional English varieties are in fact mostly of central European origin (and have very un-English names) but were the mainstay of cherry orchards in Kent for the first half of the 20th century or earlier. These varieties are typified by good traditional cherry flavours, but are not particularly easy to grow and often have complicated pollination requirements.
Modern cherry development is now an international affair but was started by the Summerland research station in British Columbia, Canada in the 1940s. The original objective was to tackle the horticultural problems associated with commercial cherry production, particularly fruit-splitting and pollination. The most famous of these new varieties is Stella but there are many others (often starting with an "S"-sound, such as Sweetheart, Sunburst, and Celeste). Whilst they lack the tradition and romance associated with the older English varieties, the flavours are still excellent and their self-fertility and easier horticultural characteristics make them a much better choice for the gardener with space for only one or two cherry trees.